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Thursday, October 29, 2015

In the Garden of Spirit

Plein Air Botanical Painting Aromatic Traditions 2014

After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Communication Design - a fancy name for Graphic Designer - I found myself designing and drawing things commercially like trucks, abalone cutters and yes, I designed a logo for a condom company. A gentle feather with a bit of a tilt at the tip.

I cut my chops at a Mom and Pop printing shop on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, CA. The head designer the wife and the head of the print shop her husband.Every day was pressure packed as I typeset, rendered drawings and cut and paste pounds of galleys and images to boards. Yes, this was the old method before desktop computers. We had a lot of fun and we worked our asses off. Some big name accounts used our services as well as walk-in customers.

Needless to say, I found Graphic Design boring.

Years later I decided to take a leap and signed up for a botanical painting class at my local arts center. I immediately fell in love with the teacher's style. She was quiet and each time she said something about what I was painting it had meaning and I could immediately move to the next step. She became my painting guru.I decided to sign up for private lessons and my love of botanical painting began.

It felt fulfilling to sit in a spot in the garden, take a deep breath and begin to paint what I felt.

Although botanical painting calls for a bit of perfection - you have to catch the spirit of the plant or flower. In the moment. They change by the minute as the sun shines and they start to bloom or fade. You have only a small window of time to paint.

Part of the Aromatic Traditions™ logo contains a drawing of White Sage. A plant that is dear to me as it is used often for smudging prior to ceremonies. (I always smudge my laboratory before I begin any product).